While they say never judge a book by its cover, India has a perception not in the minds of the foreign but also the Indian living abroad!
The land of the snake charmers as they popularly would call India, this same country today is turning tables.
India is ready for the limelight it seems.
Catch Loveena Tandon in this heartwarming narration of her homecoming to her motherland, which didn’t seem the same she left!
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[00:00:02] My recent trip to India came after a long gap thanks to the unpredictable life of a journalist and COVID. Now based in London, India is where I was born, grew up, studied and started my work life.
[00:00:16] India thus is my first home and I know how it works or so I thought. In my last trip I saw a different India. I felt lost and almost foreign in my birth land. It all began with a routine visit to the cobbler.
[00:00:35] As the cobbler handed the repaired duties, a traditional footwear common to India, I confidently offered him cash. He in turn pushed forward a machine and said, Madam UPI here? What? I don't. I said apologetically feeling utterly illiquid.
[00:00:57] Apparently my UK card would have worked but vary of the exchange rate I decided not to use it. On the hindsight I should have because most people used cashless option so the cobbler did not have enough cash on him to return the change to me.
[00:01:17] Maybe paying the exchange rate would have been cheaper after all. Or maybe he cheated me, I thought. He must have cash and just did not give back what I was due and used UPI as an excuse.
[00:01:33] The inquisitive journalist in me wanted to find out if I was duped. It was time for a road trip to roadside vendors. Next stop was at a cart selling fresh coconut water. He also offered cashless option and the story continued.
[00:01:53] All I heard and saw was Madam UPI, Pateen, Phonpei. I did not know this India. A voice niggled my brain. It's just one off I convinced myself. Anyhow, wearing my valuable jutee and holding on tightly to the confidence of knowing India well,
[00:02:17] I went for a friend's birthday party. To my utter dismay, I realized I had left her gift at home. It was not my day. It's impossible to drive back in this traffic I thought to myself. Just then my sister walked in and noticed the panic on my face.
[00:02:40] With a grin, clicked some buttons on app and she got the gift picked up from home and delivered to me in the middle of the night. Instant courier in the middle of the night all digital, all at a click of a button.
[00:02:59] I did not know this India. The voice in my head got louder. Fiercely pushing the voice to a dark corner of my brain. I focused on our exotic holiday to Bandhavgar Tiger resort that was to begin the day after. The road to Bandhavgar went by a Jabalpur airport.
[00:03:19] A city I was born in, feeling a bit mushy and fully confident of the Indian in me. I asked my children to be ready for a rough, rocky ride through the village roads. I was right, my brain told me. You still know India.
[00:03:35] As we drove across the roller coaster of a shortcut. Just as I was bracing myself and giving a reassuring smile to my kids, saying all will be well, knowing full well in my heart it won't be easy. But all was well.
[00:03:54] We landed on a smooth road offering us a silky swift ride. Thankfully there were some cows lazing around on the road. The most popular and delightful Indian attraction for a foreign tourist. That saved me from looking like a total fool in front of my children.
[00:04:15] Except that it was absolutely smooth sailing to the hotel. Do you really know India? The look on my children's eyes was upsetting the Indian in me. A doubt creeped in. Did I really know India anymore?
[00:04:32] Our stay was delightful and we got to see a tiger, up close and personal. My heart skipped a beat and I fiercely prayed that the tiger should not find the sight of this utterly confused Desi from Videsh, delightful enough for his dinner.
[00:04:53] The tiger spared me but my confidence did not. The final blow to the Indian in me came when my sister just a few days after realized last minute before her travel abroad that her son's passport is out of date.
[00:05:11] She applied in the Tatkal that is the emergency service and got the passport within 48 hours. This was without having to pull any strings or paying any bribe. I resigned to the fact that India has changed and I have not kept up with the change but has the world.
[00:05:35] The World Bank has called India a global player and Morgan Stanley's India report is bullish. It says India will be the third largest economy by the end of this decade. Goldman Sachs has predicted India to be the largest economy by 2075.
[00:05:53] It's been suggested that by 2050 India's purchasing power will be 30% larger than that of the US and it would overtake China five times larger in economy than India as of now. But in the same breath there are question marks being put on these projections.
[00:06:15] I wanted to find out more about this change and how the world is looking at it. Thus began the journey of India, a story in the making. The India story has definitely captured the minds and imaginations of the world.
[00:06:31] In India a story in the making, we want to know how and why. My guest next week is a man who has been in the business of investment for 25 years and studies emerging markets as a part of his job. He has thus studied India closely.
[00:06:50] I want to ask him how does India figure in his projections and what's his story? Find out who he is next week. Please join me in my journey to explore the global opinion on the India story on India a story in the making.
[00:07:09] It will be wonderful if you can subscribe to my YouTube channel called Levena Tandon and the podcast India a story in the making on Apple, Spotify, Binch Pods or wherever you get your podcast from. Thank you, take care and God bless and hope we meet again next week.